Palm Promises Next-Generation Operating System by Mid-2009

In a conference call with industry analysts yesterday, Palm’s CEO promised that devices running its next operating system would be on the market by the middle of next year.

On the surface this might seem like good news, but for many months this company has been committing to having smartphones running Palm OS II out in early 2009. The fact that it has switched its language is a sign that the release of this operating system has almost certainly slipped a bit.

A Loose Timetable

Specifically, Palm said the work on the new operating system and its associated software will be complete by the end of this year.

The handsets running this platform — which is typically referred to as either Palm OS II or by its code-name Nova — will be on the market in the first half of 2009.

Palm has to be somewhat vague about the release timing because it can’t directly control this. The consumer-oriented devices that will run Palm OS II will need to be sold through wireless carriers, who will control when they are launched.

More About Palm’s Next Operating System

Palm is not going to be a licensee of any other company’s mobile operating system, but is developing its own that will be based on Linux. This will include important parts of the current version, Palm OS Garnet.

Palm CEO Ed Colligan says the upcoming operating system will be as easy to use as the current one, and Palm has promised in the past it will be able to run legacy Palm OS software.

The company has said little or nothing about the devices that will run Nova, nor has it revealed which carriers will be offering it.

Palm OS II will be for consumer-oriented smartphones, and Palm will continue to use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile on its devices created for business users.